When fans think of the Masters and what it takes to be successful at Augusta National Golf Club, one of their first thoughts is that the setting is extremely important.
The greens in ANGC are lightning fast and exhibit heavy ripples. They are arguably the most difficult greens the pros face each year.
In that case, conventional wisdom should hold that putting is a prerequisite to playing well at the Masters. If you don’t have the employee, it’s “good night, Irene.”
But, surprisingly, over the past decade or so, success has had very little to do with whether a player wins the Masters.
In a counter-intuitive twist, two main factors seem to have caused this.
- The required defense for the green is an equalizer. Fewer shots are made from that 10- to 20-foot range, resulting in muddy waters. This is not a new factor—green speeds have been fast for many years—but we have a greater understanding of this dynamic due to the increased access to Masters statistics that have appeared online over the past several years. The average slope on a PGA Tour green is about 1.5 percent (breaking 1.5 feet over 100 feet) while the average slope on a green at Augusta National is 2.5 percent. It’s a big difference that results in fewer kisses being made at all.
- Augusta is a ball-striker’s paradise (though not a bomber’s paradise as accuracy has been more rewarded in recent years). The last eight Masters winners ranked in the top 25 of Strokes Gained: Tee to Green throughout the calendar year in which they won. And the Masters field hits about four percent fewer greens in regulation than players in the average PGA Tour event, so approach and scrambling skills are valued more than putting.
This does not mean that the ability to shoot well is one unimportant master’s degree. That would be taking things too far.
However, you don’t need a great week to win the Masters. You can even have a mediocre to poor week and win.
The statistics behind this phenomenon
Over the past 10 years, there have been several traditionally poor players who have won the Masters.
Sergio Garcia and Hideki Matsuyama have struggled to play throughout their careers. Scottie Scheffler won the 2022 Masters at a time when he was struggling on the green.
But the biggest evidence here is that, in each of the last five years, the winner of the green jacket the worst Strokes Category won for the week was put. None of them ranked in the Strokes Gained: Putting top 10 for the week. Last year, champion Rory McIlroy even missed shots on the field on the greens.
The other four winners had good weeks of performance but won the tournament based on their other skills.
Here’s the chart from our friends at Data Golf (please see all their other Masters data, which are beautifully presented).
Even more interesting is that other degrees reward putting in much more than Masters do.
Consider that the average PGA Tour winner gains about five strokes on the course based on their putting. Since the Masters began tracking the Strokes Gained statistic several years ago, winners won’t even gain two strokes over the green.
In comparison, the winners of the 2021-2025 Open Championship have won almost nine strokes against the greens.
You will see here that while placement was not predictive of Masters success, being fit was around the greens is more important than any other event throughout the year.
Data Golf theorizes that there are several reasons for this. If you’re a nerd, you’ll appreciate this:
“The higher contribution around the green may in part reflect the fact that the players hit about an extra shot around the green per round at Augusta National, although they are expected to hit about an extra putt. It’s also possible that because when players miss the greens matters more at Augusta than a typical course, some approach shots may not be sufficiently penalized by the underlying stroke gain functions—meaning that some of the variance labeled as green circle may actually be attributable to approach.
“In terms of the difficulty of playing Augusta compared to other courses, it’s ‘easy’ off the tee (lots of drivers, not many penalty areas) but challenging everywhere else. That means that from any given distance, we expect players to hit it further from the fairway, hit fewer greens and make fewer putts. I play very hard at Augusta National.”
The TL;DR version of this story
I have thrown you a lot here. Let me try to summarize.
Masters winners need to be precise off the tee. they need to hit their irons well. they need to chop and tar well.
Do they? need do you shoot well?
Not really.
Since the Masters began offering shot-by-shot data won by strokes in 2021, we’ve learned that winners rely heavily on their ball-striking and scrambling traits.
Their shooter? It’s more of a role player in the proceedings.
As for the rest of us, we’re just trying to argue if we won the Masters if we started every hole on the green.
Main photo caption: Rory McIlroy practices his putt on Tuesday ahead of the 2026 Masters. (GETTY IMAGES/Thomas Lovelock)
